Breathing
by Sethia
Summary: When Zelos finds an old friend outside of Meltokio the night of his birthday, he ends up finding out more than he bargained for. Lloyd's sick, and only he knows what it is; but cam't remember the cure. How will they save him? Not much time. Zelloyd, Kruan


_**Breathing**_

_**A Tales of Symphonia fan fiction**_

_**Authors Noting**_

Okay guys, this is my first shot at a real fan fiction in a very long time. I'm a little nervous- because usually, I'm very critical of my own works. I realize a lot of faults which, no matter how long I stare at the text for, I can not understand how to fix. My boyfriend is pretty much my beta, and he tells me I'm only being paranoid, but sometimes I wonder. ;

Anyway! This is a story revolving around the relationship between Zelos and Lloyd, and a new, mysterious evil force which has aroused from the shadoooows Whoooo

I must also kindly request that, should you review, you do not breathe a single word about Dawn of The New World. I have yet to play it, as I live in stingy Europe, and would not take kindly to spoilers.

Thank you very much!

**_(Prologue) Chapter one - An Unexpected Finding._**

Meltokio was a glorious city at night. For those with money, the night is forever young; and the streets a playground. Many young men and women moved their delicate feet across the marble pavement of the Nobles' quarters, to the music that filled the charming breeze there every night. Nobles of the older region would often be found decorating the benches around the central square with their fatigued beauty, (and faked beauty, for the women who refused to be a 'day over thirty'), however the few that could still find their inner child were with the younger generation, polishing off and adorning their dancing shoes.

Although Meltokio's night life was up to extreme standards and satisfied even the man next door, tonight was special. Tonight, the Swan Princess didn't dare dance with Prince Derik might she ruin her time-perfected hair; for there was only one her hand would greet on this fateful night. Tonight, the handful of men with a more select taste of romance would hide away their bashfulness and come out clean with the truth that they had forever been keen to envelope with fear.

The streets were covered in beautiful lights, hanging not only from every house, tree and lamppost in the Noble's quarter, but from every house, tree and lamppost inside of the walls of Meltokio, including the used-to-be rural area. Since the end of the journey of Regeneration, Zelos himself had supplied that area of Meltokio with gald for building supplies, food… whatever they needed in order to make themselves a more flourishing side of the city. Now it held a market every Wednesday morning, and nobles often visited. Mrs. Dale made gorgeous sweets and confectionary that men liked to present to women they had a thing for. And now it stood, bearing decorations for the birthday of their saviour- a man Mrs. Dale made sure received a special package of confectionary each Wednesday afternoon: Zelos Wilder.

Tonight, Zelos Wilder wished he could just disappear.

"Man, why me?" Zelos ran a gloved hand through his primped, scarlet hair, reluctant to bring it back out of the comforting mass. The Chosen stood leaning out of his window looking out at the busy streets of Meltokio. His grim expression didn't say anything for the way he was feeling at that moment in time. Sure, Zelos had adored and taken advantage of attention ever since he realized people loved and needed him. But now he had grown up and realized that he'd get no-where with his flirting and daydreaming, he didn't want a city-wide, (and almost world-wide,) party whenever he got a measly year older. Sure, sixteen, eighteen and twenty-one were birthdays to be celebrated, but not twenty-five. He was mature enough by now to just have a drink with a few of his friends and make fun of Genis for still being short, and Raine for being single. Mind you, that'd be quite contradicting.

"Either way, there's no getting out of this now. I'll dance with the beauties and sway with the hunks, get pissed and sleep. Tomorrow it'll be a normal day and all I'll have to deal with is angry mothers of kids I've swooned. Poor honeys." Zelos' fringe flew past his eyes and stuck to his glossed lips, and he pulled it back off with frustration. "Besides, only Regal and Presea have turned up this year. The others… must just be too busy. Either that or their mail didn't reach; which doesn't surprise me, especially with Lloyd and Colette, considering them being travelling around. My postman is almost ready to knock me one with how much weight he lost last year running around for two weeks trying to find them," he snickered to himself, his eyes glazing over with his daydreaming.

A loud knock to his door brought him right back to reality. Zelos jumped so high that he hit his head on the window which was only half-open.

"Big-brother!" Seles called from the doorway. "You're expected downstairs in three minutes! Please don't be late like last time. The catastrophe caused by that was too much to bear!" The door shut closed without Zelos even answering her. He simply sighed and turned back to face the world through his window.

He continued to gaze lazily in to the world, no longer desiring it like he had mere years ago. He'd wanted so badly to just run out in the open fields, play, explore… find out what it was like to have to earn a living instead of having it all there the moment you're born. He was grateful for his riches, but sometimes… even he thought that it was unfair. Unfair that so many people out there suffered, because people like him thrived. If he hadn't' have fixed up the depleted area of Meltokio, he'd never have been able to be happy with himself.

But now he had no reason to worry about that. He had journeyed the worlds, seen every town, crossed every field… he now knew that he belonged in one place, in one town, in one world.

Bringing himself back in to the present, Zelos slumped further in to the window-ledge. "I wonder… if everyone else is happy in the new world. Sometimes I wonder if Mithos.." That's when he noticed something strange. A figure on the outskirts of Meltokio, not too close, but close enough to see, and completely still. Focusing his vision, Zelos could make out that the person was laying down, but definitely not in a sleeping position. And as he narrowed his eyes even more, he noticed something else.

"Oh, shit…"

He slammed his window wide open, jumped up on to the ledge, and before even pulling his orange wings out entirely, jumped. The wind blew in his hair, pulling it all back as he flew against it. He had curled his hair especially for the occasion, needing to make some sort of effort for his admirers. But now that was ruined entirely- even if it hadn't been curled, it would have been windswept.

oxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

"I can't believe I only received this this morning!" a hoarse voice grunted, coughing harshly afterwards. "And damn that Colette. I can't believe she didn't find this important enough to go too! She's changed so much…"

Lloyd kicked another pebble from the sand path he walked. For the past two days he'd had a pretty bad flu, and he had been residing in Sybak to have it seen to and investigated, since they couldn't figure out what it was at the time. Lloyd, however, knew what it was, and had been planning to call on Genis to ask him for the cure today, but then a rather angry-looking postman had given Lloyd a letter which had turned out to be an invitation to Zelos' birthday party that very night. Zelos being his closest friend was too important to just refuse, so Lloyd had started out for Meltokio immediately, regardless of everyone's complaints at the academy. Colette had refused to accompany him, saying "he had guts chasing after that idiot when he was as sick as he was," but it made no difference to him. He needed to get to Zelos; to show that he cared.

Colette and he had been having constant arguments lately. It was ridiculous really; they'd grown up together, being the closest of friends possibly. They'd been convinced they'd be best friends forever, since they knew everything about each other, looked out for each other, even save each other from death. But all of a sudden Colette had… turned. Completely; acting like there was nothing between the two anymore, except for history. Just nothing to be done with that history.

That didn't really matter, though. Lloyd had… instantly grew from Colette's friendship, realizing now that she was just claiming him to be hers a lot. Not in a… couple kind of sense, but she had been ordering him around and making him do things that she'd usually be fine with. Lloyd wasn't stupid enough to not realize that being in a friendship like that wasn't the most… beneficial. So he'd gone ahead and started visiting someone else who he had a very strong relation to during his journey. So, throughout the last two years, just before Lloyd had given back his rheaird to Yuan two months ago, Lloyd had made constant visits to Zelos, each one with intervals of only a day or two sometimes, and had become extremely close to the man. They had even gotten as close as cuddling on Zelos' oversized, plush sofa when it'd been too cold for even blankets to help. And Lloyd had loved every long moment of it. Although, after a while, he reckoned that it may be nothing new to Zelos, and… after a week of thinking, Lloyd had given Yuan back his rheard to have an excuse to not be able to meet up with Zelos much. He decided not to spend his life hoping for things he knew weren't accessible. Everyone wanted Zelos as their own, and it was likely that Zelos had had someone all this time, and just hadn't told Lloyd.

Continuing his stream of thoughts, Lloyd realized just how close he was to Meltokio now, and his eyes glittered with happiness. At least he wouldn't be disappointing Zelos on his birthday! And maybe he could sneak a dance with the Chosen, as he had heard that Zelos danced with both men and women on the night of his birthday. His cheeks flushed with excitement and happiness, which then went on to being dizziness in front of his eyes. The young swordsman stumbled and fell, swiftly, heavily, and he knew no more of the crisp evening air.

oxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Crouching down next to the sleeping man, Zelos forced back tears he didn't even expect himself. He turned Lloyd on to his back, inwardly cursing at the pale skin that he wore. Quickly checking for a pulse, Zelos let out a huge sigh of relief when he found out that Lloyd had a very normal and healthy pulse. At the same time, something nagged at the back of his head which said, "it's not meant to be healthy when he's like this," but he ignored it, knowing that it couldn't be a bad sign if he was breathing well.

"Oh Lloyd, what's happened to you?" the Chosen asked, pulling Lloyd in to his arms and gently picking him up, eager not to wake him up, as it seemed that he definitely needed the sleep he was getting. Happy to finally have Lloyd back with him again, and slightly guilty that it was at the cost of his friend's health, Zelos kicked off from the ground, and headed back towards the glowing city.

**End Chapter 1: An Unexpected Finding**

**Thanks for reading chapter one! I hope you stick by this story and read on!**


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